Steve Buscemi

Early life

Buscemi was born in Brooklyn, New York to John Buscemi (an Italian American Korean War veteran) and an Irish American mother. Steve graduated from Valley Stream Central High School, where he wrestled in the varsity squad at 125 lbs, in 1975. He then attended Nassau Community College before moving to Manhattan to attend the Lee Strasberg Institute. He was a New York City firefighter Engine Company #55 in the Little Italy from 1980 to 1984. The day after the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11, Buscemi showed up at his old firehouse and volunteered to work at Ground Zero. For the next week he worked 12 hour shifts digging through the rubble in an effort to recover bodies, all the while refusing to do inteviews or have his picture taken.

Career

Acting

Buscemi is an associate member of the experimental theater company The Wooster Group.

Buscemi's memorable roles include Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs, Garland Greene in Con Air, Rockhound in Armageddon, Donny in The Big Lebowski and Carl Showalter in Fargo. Although usually a supporting actor, he has had critical success as a lead actor, particularly his role as Seymour in Ghost World.

Buscemi normally plays characters that are neurotic and paranoid. He often appears in films by the Coen Brothers, wherein he often dies in a grisly, prolonged or unexpected manner (In Fargo, Buscemi is shot in the jaw with a revolver. When he insists to his partner on a larger cut of the money, he is hacked to death with an axe, later to be fed into a woodchipper).

In 2003, Buscemi made a brief celebrity guest appearance as himself on the long-running FOX animated television show The Simpsons in the episode Brake My Wife, Please. In 2004, Buscemi joined the cast of The Sopranos as Tony Soprano's cousin and childhood friend, Tony Blundetto. Buscemi had previously been involved with the show, directing the third season episode "Pine Barrens", which is a fan favorite. He recently appeared in the third episode of Season 6, as a doorman at heaven (portrayed as a country club) in a dream of Tony Soprano's. He also returned as a director to the show, directing the fifth episode of Season 6.

Directing

In addition to acting, Buscemi also has a career as a director. He currently is directing the feature film, Interview, in which he also stars. Previous to this, he has directed Trees Lounge in (1996), Animal Factory (2000), Lonesome Jim (2005). In addition to directing feature films, he has also directed episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street and The Sopranos. Also, he directed two episodes of the HBO prison-drama series Oz, "U.S. Male," and "Cuts Like A Knife."

Trivia

Filmography